Chapter 27 #2
“Jandro, we have a big fucking problem. You need to see what I did.”
The dread in her expression and voice alarms me more than the shootout itself. It’s wall to wall as six O’Rourkes and five Diaz men along with Vita crowd into the office as I play back the CCTV from outside the building.
A man emerges from a vehicle parked facing the O’Rourke SUV.
He takes out the three men standing guard with a gun that has a silencer.
Then he opens a duffel bag and pulls out what we all recognize as an explosive device.
He disappears from the camera for a moment, and we can all guess he slipped underneath the SUV.
When he reappears, Vita reaches for the remote in my hand and hits the pause button.
“Jandro, I know exactly who that is.”
“You do?”
“Yes. Look at him closely. Do you recognize him?”
Something tickles my memory telling me I should, but I can’t place him.
“That’s Patrick, my date to the O’Rourkes gala.”
“What?”
None of us yell, but with eleven masculine voices in a confined space, it’s easy to guess how loud that was.
“I need to speak to him. I need to know why he went from working alongside me to being my enemy. Not just my enemy, but someone who accepted the job to kill me. We’ve been rivals, and we’ve been friends. We’ve been more than friends, but we’ve never tried to kill each other before.”
I loathe hearing she has a sexual past with this carechimba—face of a vagina—but it’s not like either of us were virgins beforehand. It’ll always be entirely possible for us to run into past partners. It doesn’t mean I’m eager for it to happen.
“You are not going anywhere near this fucker.”
“I have to. You know he won’t tell me anything over the phone.”
“You aren’t making his job easier by standing in front of him. That’s not happening, Vita.”
Since we’re hardly the first couple to argue over each other’s safety, the other guys remain quiet.
“I’m not asking your permission, Jandro. This needs to happen.”
“If you’re going to meet him, then you’re doing it under my conditions.”
“If I go with an entourage, he won’t show. And you’re not coming with me so he can get a two-for-one. That pezzo di merda isn’t getting a one-for-one.”
“No. That does nothing to reassure me, Vita. You don’t want to know what will come of this if you insist.”
I can guarantee every guy in here, especially the married ones—so all but Joaquin and me—know precisely what I mean.
If we weren’t trying to destroy each other, our similarities would probably make all members of Four Families besties forever.
As Vita and I stand off against each other, Dillan steps forward.
“Pablo, we’ll do our part and dig to see what the hell’s going on, on our end.”
“You have until tomorrow night to figure this shit out. Otherwise, we’ll handle it all.”
“The feck you will. This is your personal family matter that spilled over into trying to kill my family. Be glad all of you are still breathing rather than your parents planning wakes. Accept my graciousness with the sincerity it’s offered.”
That makes everyone in my family, including Vita, snort.
“Whatever, feckers. Until tomorrow night.”
Dillan and his ragtag bunch of cousins take off, leaving my cousins and me to stare at each other. No one’s staring at Vita because I know none of us want her to believe we’re blaming her for what happened. We don’t, so we don’t want her to misunderstand and confuse curiosity with blame.
“What’re you going to do, Jandro? Because I still intend to meet with Patrick.”
“I think you and I need to have our own meeting at our place.”
“Our place?”
“Yes. We’re going home to the condo.”
Even though she’s spent no time there, I can already think of the place as being her home too since I can’t imagine being apart from her.
It’s not just that I’m controlling as fuck and don’t want her out of my sight or my reach because I’m convinced she’ll die the moment she is.
I genuinely want her company when we’re not trying to sort out this chaos.
There’s not much more we can do here at the club. My cousins, Vita, and I agree we’ll give Joaquin a few hours to investigate more. Vita compromises, accepting she needs to know as much as possible before she reaches out to Patrick.
I don’t agree with her meeting him, but I also don’t fight her anymore.
Once we’re in the town car I called for, Vita doesn’t fight me when I pull her onto my lap.
In silent agreement, she strips off her pants while I unfasten mine.
I push down my boxer briefs enough for my dick to spring free.
The moment we were alone in the car and kissed, it came to life.
Now she straddles me and slides down until I’m buried inside her.
“Daddy, I don’t want to argue about this.
Please let me say my piece, and I’ll listen to yours, and then we’ll figure things out later.
You don’t know Patrick like I do. Even though I don’t know his reasons for getting involved, I’m confident he’ll talk to me before he gives anything away to you.
You wouldn’t be the first one to torture him.
He’s gotten away each time. The only way he won’t is if you kill him.
And if you kill him, then we can’t learn anything from him.
I’m not ruling out your right to torture him and kill him.
I’m asking that you let me have a go first.”
“I understand that, Vita. And I don’t disagree with what you’re saying.
It’s the logistics of it. There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go alone.
I know you’re right. If he thinks you came with guards or me, he won’t talk.
Not only that, he’s likely to finish the job on you.
And I can’t stomach the idea of losing you.
Nothing could be worse than that. You’re my everything. ”
“I feel the same, Daddy. All of this, since the moment we met until now, has been nonstop intensity. I’m sure it’s amplified our feelings.
But the only way it can make them bigger and louder is if they already existed.
This whole thing is testing us. But we’re not letting it break the bond we have. Just the opposite.”
“Chiquita, I don’t think I could go on without you. If something happened, I’d never force you to stay with me. You can leave whenever you want. But if things end between us, it won’t be my choice.”
“And you believe it would be mine, Daddy?”
“It would have to be.”
“That’s not happening. I’m not going anywhere. We’re in this together for good.”
She leans forward as I grip her hips. We needed the closeness of our bodies joined. The intimacy of being one with no end and no beginning. Now we need another layer of that connection.
As we move together, our tongues duel as our bodies move in sync. I don’t remember the drive from Queens to Manhattan ever being so fast. But it feels like it’s only moments later that we pull into the garage beneath my building. I work to get her off as we pull up to the elevator.
“Daddy, I’m so close.”
“Me too, chiquita.”
She grasps the headrest behind me as she grinds her clit against my pubic bone. I press my heels into the floor as I thrust into her.
“Daddy, I’m coming. I’m coming.”
“Me too, little girl.”
With a moan from her and a grunt from me, we both come. Couples can spend their entire relationship trying to synchronize their orgasms. It comes naturally to us. That’s its own sign.
I know my driver won’t interrupt us until I tap on the window.
The delay in doing that surely gives away what we’re up to if the vehicle’s shaking didn’t already.
We take our time exchanging soft kisses before she lifts herself off me, and we put our clothes back on.
The uncertainty and irritation that crackled between us earlier is gone as we ride up the elevator arm in arm.
“Just give me a moment in the bathroom.”
“All right.”
I head into the kitchen to make us something to eat since we both agreed we’re starving again. Our meals have been unpredictable for the last couple days.
“Should I open a bottle of wine?”
I look over at Vita when she comes to stand beside my wine rack. “If you’d like to.”
She peruses the bottles until she finds one she likes. She opens it and pours us each a glass while I finish cooking. We seem like such a normal couple as we share dinner together. We’re both growing sleepy after we move to the couch to watch TV.
“Do you want the last bit of this wine, Jandro?”
“Let’s split it.”
She rises and heads back to the kitchen.
When she returns, each of our glasses is only a quarter full.
I down mine in two swallows before we head into the bedroom.
I barely get through brushing my teeth before everything grows fuzzy.
I head back into the bedroom already knowing what’s happened.
I stumble to the bed where Vittoria lies.
“You drugged me.”